


Over My Head

by Totoro (Ultron)



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: F/M, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-03 06:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5280578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultron/pseuds/Totoro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tomoyo Daidōji starts work on a project for her Film Club that leads her into the world of underground boxing with her neighbor Kurogane and his eccentric team. But she might end up a little in over her head in a world much different than the business meetings and mansions she's used to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Idea

**Author's Note:**

> I'm transferring my fics from my FF to my A03. This is a currently ongoing fic that I don't know when I'll ever get done. I've got it planned out for about 7 chapters (maybe 6 cause I might combine two) but I just can't find to actually write them. It's an AU (it was the first ever AU I wrote) and the idea just came to me after seeing Kurogane as a mechanic on a chapter cover during the Piffle Arc. I like boxing and crime stories too so somehow that made it in here. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.
> 
> The title for this comes from the song "Over My Head" by The Fray.

_Steel._ Tomoyo Daidōji stared at the piece of paper on her hand and groaned. It was as if the word was mocking her each time she unfolded the paper to look at it. She thought back to this morning when she pulled this evil word out of a jar.

It all happened during her Film Club meeting at Clow Academy. Their sponsor, Chitose-sensei, had told the group that for their next assignment they would all draw a word from a jar and make a film having to include the word in the title. Of course she had to get a weird one. What was she going to make a film with he word steel about?

When Tomoyo asked her about it she told her she didn't have to be literal; it didn't have to be about actual steel. It could be about anything so long as it had a logical reason to have the word steel in the title, meaning she couldn't make a film about kittens and call it Steel Cage or something just because they slept in one.

She had left the club with no ideas and, after clubs while waiting for her driver to arrive, asked her friends f they had any ideas after she explained the project to them. They were all standing outside the doors of the school.

"I'm sorry Tomoyo-san but I'm not really an idea man," said Syaoran, "Good luck though."

"Thanks Syaoran-kun," said Tomoyo as she pulled out her camera. That's when Sakura came through the doors.

"Maybe I could do something with Sakura-chan as my star!" said Tomoyo as she circled her best friend and favorite film subject.

"Do something with what?" asked Sakura, ducking away from the camera, embarrassed.

"Tomoyo-san's movie project," said Syaoran.

"What's it about?" asked Sakura.

"Nothing yet," began Tomoyo, "I have to come up with an idea and use the word steel in the title of it."

"Why steel?" asked Sakura.

"We had to draw random words from a jar and of course I got an odd one," she said, "I'm never lucky with these things."

"If Sakura had drawn for you you'd have got the easiest one," said Syaoran.

Sakura blushed a bit, "I'm not that lucky, Syaoran-kun."

"Oh course you are, Sakura-chan!" shouted Tomoyo-chan, "I don't think that I have one of your card tournaments on tape that you've lost."

Sakura had a small grin on her face, "Well...I guess that's true but don't worry Tomoyo-chan! I'm sure an idea will come to you when you least expect it!"

 _I hope so Sakura-chan._ Tomoyo looked away from her paper and out to the window of the car. That's when she saw her neighbor, Kurogane Youou, standing in front of his car kicking it with all his might.

Tomoyo wasn't super close to Kurogane or anything but he'd been lived at the house/auto shop near the end of the road that lead up to the Daidōji mansion so they saw each other quit a bit and were at least close enough to ask how the other was when they saw each other or borrow sugar if the other needed it. She actually was wondering what in the world he was doing.

"Stop the car, please," she said and her driver pulled up beside the auto shop and stopped. She quickly hopped out and walked over to the tall, black-haired man. He was dressed in grey sweat pants and a white tank covered in oil and she could see a wrench in his gloved hand.

"Hello Kurogane-san!" she said with a wave.

Kurogane stopped kicking his car and sharply turned, about to yell, before he saw who she was. When he did he seemed to calm down and gave her a small wave. "Hello Daidōji-san."

"I told you you could call me Tomoyo-san," she began, "You make me think I'm at a business meeting or something."

"Keep forgettin'" he said, "Anyway you need something, Tomoyo-san?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I just saw you beating up your car and thought I'd ask if everything was ok."

He sighed as he leaned against the hood. "Yeah I'm just angry. I fix this piece of shit a hundred times and it decides not to run the one time I fucking need it too."

"Do you need to get somewhere?" she asked. "If so my car can take you."

"...I don't want to bother you. I can probably get in touch with someone to take me," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I wouldn't be any trouble."

"Really, it's fine. Besides I don't think you're driver would really want to go all the way to Tokyo."

"Tokyo's not that far, Kurogane-san. My mother has to drive out there everyday for work. Really it would be no problem."

"Look it's...really not somewhere you're driver would probably want to go into."

Tomoyo tilted her head, wondering what he meant. "Well if you change your mind you can always come up to the mansion and ask. See ya!"

"See ya," he said.

So Tomoyo returned to her car and headed back to her house however when they were about halfway up the road she quickly saw him running toward them, flagging them down.

When he reached the car she rolled the window down and he stuck his head in. "Hey, can I get that ride?"

She smiled. "Sure, Kurogane-san."

So he opened the door and scooted in beside her. That's when she noticed that he'd put on new grey sweatpants, a grey hoodie, and had a pair of silver boxing gloves with two twisting dragons on each one.

"Are you going to a boxing match?" she asked.

He looked down at his gloves and shrugged. "Something like that."

"Where's it at so I can tell my driver?" she asked.

"Uh," he began, "How about you just drop me off near the Piffle Princess tower of yours? It's close enough and I can walk the rest of the way."

"Now Kurogane-san it's no trouble to take you all the way."

"I'd rather you didn't," he said, flatly.

"Oh," she began, "ok then."

So she told her driver where to go and when the took off her and Kurogane sat in silence. She decided to pull out her camera and look over the footage she had got of Sakura that day. When she sat it in her lap she noticed him glance over at it, curious.

"My camera," she said holding it up, "I like to film."

"Cool," he said.

"...Maybe I could film your boxing match tonight," she said, shyly.

"That probably wouldn't be a good idea."

Now her curiosity was getting really peaked. _What's the big deal with this boxing match?_ She decided she try to prod him some to find out. "Why wouldn't it? I bet it'd be cool to have on camera."

"I'm sure it would but it's not really a place for girls like you to be in," he said.

"Girls like me?" she asked. "What does that mean?"

He shrugged. "You know young, rich girls. It's a tough place."

"As tough as the board room for the purchase of the Piffle Princess Company by the Daidōji Company?" 

"Pretty sure it's tougher," he said with a small chuckle.

"Well then you've never been in a meeting with some of the people I have before," she said.

He just shook his head at her but a smile was on his face. Tomoyo smiled too. Kurogane was a normally gruff person but he was always a little less gruff around her. She wonder if that would help her as she kept pressing him.

"Kurogane-san, please let me go with you to your match and film you! I won't get in your way and I think I can handle just about anyone. It'll be cool and maybe I'll film something other than my beautiful Sakura-chan, not that I'll give up filming her!"

"Look, Tomoyo-san," he began but was quickly stopped when the driver told them they'd arrived at the drug store. "Well I should get going. Thanks for the ride, Tomoyo-san," he said getting out of the car.

She then hopped out on the other side, camera in hand. "You're welcome, Kurogane-san."

He looked at her confused. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," she said, "Just taking a walk. Can't I take a walk on my own?"

He frowned at her and then sighed, "Whatever." He started down the sidewalk and she quickly started following behind him. She could see as they walked he was getting frustrated. Finally he turned around and glared at her. "You aren't going to stop are you?"

"Nope," she said, proud.

He groaned. "Fine, you can come. But I ain't watching you. Now let's get going before I'm late. My manager will beat the shit out of me if I am."

"Ok," she said, excited. So they headed down the street until they arrived at an abandoned building. "Why are we here?" she asked as they walked down the alley.

"This is where we fight," he said as they headed up to the door and knocked on it.

A large man opened the door up until the chain and stared at them. "Hey if it isn't Youou-san! Some people were saying that you weren't going to show."

"Just some car trouble," he said. "I'd never miss this tournament."

"Good cause your bitch manager was about to fucking cut us all if you didn't show," said the man. He then looked over at Tomoyo. "Who's the girl?"

"A friend," said Kurogane.

The man squinted his eyes at her. "You sure she won't talk about this?"

"Positive. Wouldn't have brought her if she would."

The man looked at her one more time and then opened the door. "Alright come on in. Little Miss Sunshine's already in the back waiting for you."

"Got it," said Kurogane as he and Tomoyo walked in.

When they got to the main part of the arena, Tomoyo was overwhelmed by what she saw. Men and women were everywhere, yelling and drinking and waving money around for bet collectors to come get as they watched the two men in the ring in the middle of the room throw punch after punch at each other. Tomoyo felt very out of place in the smoke filled, alcohol smelling place. She also was pretty sure she was the youngest person there and looking at most of the women she was the most moderately dressed in her school uniform.

"Hey come on," he hollered and Tomoyo quickly caught up, not realizing that she'd even stopped.

"Sorry," she began whens he fell in step beside him.

"Don't be getting lost around here. Some of these people aren't the most upstanding citizens," he said. "Alright come though here.

So they walked through a door down a back hallway and standing in the room was a beautiful woman with long black hair and then another woman with shorter black hair standing behind her. The first woman didn't have a happy look on her face though when Kurogane entered.

"Where the fuck were you?!" she shouted immediately.

"You knew where the fuck I was! Trapped at home because my card broke down! I called you!" he shouted back.

"Well," said the woman, "I can't deal with all your problems all the time. It was much too out of the way to come get you."

"You could have sent Souma!" he said pointing at the second woman.

"Don't yell at Amaterasu, Kurogane!" said Souma.

"Let it go Souma," said the woman called Ameterasu. She glared at Kurogane and then noticed Tomoyo for the first time. "You screwing a 15 year old?"

Tomoyo blushed and Kurogane scowled at her. "She's 18 and I'm not screwing her. She's my neighbor and you should be thankful she's here because she was my ride."

The woman looked at her again, same way the man at the door did, and smirked. "So you're Kurogane's neighbor, huh? I bet that's a living hell."

Kurogane frowned at her as he moved over to the bench to prepare for his match; Souma followed him.

Tomoyo shook her head and smiled. "No Kurogane-san's a good neighbor. He helps repair some of our company cars for free."

The woman who looked over at Kurogane and then back to Tomoyo. "What's you're name?"

"Tomoyo Daidōji," she said with a bow.

"Daidōji-san? I assume that you are somehow related to the Daidōji company," she said.

Tomoyo shook her head. "Yes. It's technically my mother's company but I am in charge of the Piffle Princess part of it. If I may ask who are you?"

"I'm Amaterasu Kendappa," said the woman. "I'm Kurogane's manager and the woman over there is his training partner Souma Kaida."

"Nice to meet you Kendappa-san, Kaida-san" she said.

"You as well Daidōji-san," said Ameterasu.

"Yes, it's nice too meet you too, Daidōji-san," said Souma as she finished wrapping Kurogane's hands with tape.

He quickly stood up. "Are you ladies done talking? Match is about to start," he said.

Amaterasu and Tomoyo both turned to look at him. He was shirtless, dressed in black athletic shorts, his hands were wrapped, and he held his gloves.

"Alright," said Amaterasu, "Let's go win us a match."

So the four of them headed out the door back into the arena. As Kurogane and Souma headed up to the ring, with her helping him tie his gloves, Tomoyo and Amaterasu went to take a seat at the bar.

"Do you drink?" asked Amaterasu.

"I'm not 20 yet," said Tomoyo.

"Didn't stop me when I was your age," said Amaterasu, "So you sure you don't want anything?"

"I'm sure," said Tomoyo.

"Alright," said Amaterasu as she turned to ask the bartender for a drink.

While she was getting her drink, Tomoyo prepared her camera. She held it up to see how good a shot she could get of Kurogane. She watched as Souma finished putting his gloves on and began talking to him.

"So why did Kurogane let you join him tonight?" asked Amaterasu as she turned in her seat, drink in hand.

"Well, he really didn't want me too. He just wanted a ride and then he'd walk here but I started following him and he just gave up and let me come," said Tomoyo.

"Well hope to see you at our next match. If we win tonight it won't be until Monday which gives us a good three day break," she said.

"Oh I probably won't be back. Kurogane-san very reluctantly let me come with him this time so I doubt he'd bring me back," said Tomoyo.

Amaterasu took a sip of her drink. "I'll bet you'll be back. Maybe I'll get you to film the tournaments," she said looking at Tomoyo's camera.

"Um, Kendappa-san, could you please explain all this to me? What exactly do you all do here, other than box?" asked Tomoyo.

Amaterasu grinned. "Well truly we don't even box here. Official boxing has rules; here we don't. Well other than that you can only use your fists, not kicking or anything like that. Most of the time it's just one guy versus the guy who challenges him and they fight and people bet. Sometimes, like now, though we have tournaments. They make the bracket, fighters compete, winner gets the jackpot. Simple. For each opponent they face they'll fight only one match. If you knock the opponent unconscious or if he forfeits then you win and advance. So far Kurogane hasn't lost a one and I don't expect him to lose tonight so we should be good. OH look it's about to begin."

Tomoyo quickly turned back to look at ring. She saw an announcer/referee step into the middle, getting ready to announce the competitors and she quickly turned her camera on.

"WELCOME TO WHAT IS SURE TO BE THE BEST MATCH OF THE NIGHT! IN THE LEFT CORNER WE HAVE THE ONE AND ONLY ZIMA!" Tomoyo watched as a man with long black hair put up in a thin ponytail wearing black shades, for whatever reason, walked into the middle of the ring.

"AND IN THE RIGHT CORNER WE HAVE THE UNDEFEATED KUROGANE YOUOU!" Kurogane walked into the middle of the ring pounding his gloves together in way that made the two dragons on them look like they were fighting. Tomoyo had to admit he looked pretty cool.

"LET THE MATCH...BEGIN!" With that the fist throwing began. Tomoyo was amazed at how fast and strong Kurogane was. Anytime his opponent would throw a punch Kurogane would duck and end up hitting him but wasn't close to knocking him out yet.

Tomoyo must have been watching in more awe than she thought because Amaterasu said, "He's something isn't he?"

"Yeah," said Tomoyo still watching him in her camera.

"Why don't you get up close and cheer him on?" she said.

Tomoyo looked over at her and then back to Kurogane's fight but hesitated to move.

"Oh go on," said Amaterasu. "Maybe he'll enjoy having a friend cheer him on. Most of the time it's only the betters and me doing it."

"...Ok I will," said Tomoyo as she got up. She quickly elbowed her way through the crowd of people to get up to the ring. Kurogane was still beating on Zima, who had yet to land a blow on Kurogane.

She could hear the different people around her shouting some for Zima and some for Kurogane and some just shouting for someone to 'hurry up and beat the shit out of someone'. Tomoyo decided she'd call out too. "You've got this Kurogane-san!" she shouted.

Kurogane probably didn't hear her but about the same time he delivered a hard hit to Zima's face breaking his nose. Zima fell to the floor and waved his hand around in a way to say "I forfeit".

Part of the crowd began cheering, part of the crowd began booing but Tomoyo excitedly smiled as she zoomed in on his grinning face. He must have noticed the camera looking at him because he looked directly in it and gave her a grin, his white teeth showing. Then the announcer came over to him and held his arm up and declared "WE HAVE A WINNER! THE STILL UNDEFEATED, THE ONE AND ONLY, KUROGANE YOUOU AKA THE STEEL DRAGON!"

When the word hit Tomoyo's ear she paused for a moment. _The Steel Dragon._ She smiled. _Ideas really do come when you least expect it, Sakura-chan._


	2. The Team

As Kurogane stepped out of the ring, Tomoyo quickly rushed over to him, a huge smile on her face. She finally had the idea for her film and she wasn't going to wait a moment in pitching it to Kurogane. She didn't know what he would say so she decided that asking him now, while he was in a good mood from winning, would probably be her best bet.

When she looked at him she noticed that his gloves were bloody, his body was sweaty, but his face was glowing with pride. He was hyped up on adrenaline as he usually was after a fight. Something about being in the ring got his blood pumping. "Hey," he said as he got to her, "so what did you think?"

"That was so cool, Kurogane-san!" she said, excitedly, "And the way it looked on the camera! You could make a movie out of it!"

He just chuckled as they headed toward the bar where Souma and Amaterasu were waiting. "Now you're just being a kiss-ass."

"No I'm serious!" began Tomoyo, "In fact I was going to ask you if I could make a documentary of you and your matches to use for my film club."

That's when he paused and turned back to her. "You want to do what?"

"I want to make a documentary of you and your matches to use for a project in my film club. You see we all had to draw a word from a jar and I got steel and I didn't know what to do and then when the announcer called you The Steel Dragon this idea just popped into my head and I-"

He cut her off. "Are you crazy? This is all underground. Do you really think I'm going to let you film it and show to your club? Besides you-"

He was then cut off when Amaterasu and Souma came over to where they were standing. "What are you two standing around over here for?!" shouted Amaterasu, already sounding a bit buzzed, a drink in her hand. "Let's celebrate my undefeated fighter's advancement in this tournament!" She took a swig and put her arm around Kurogane. "Come on, Kurogane! Let's get a drink!" She then pointed to Tomoyo. "You too, girly! You need to try something 20 or not! We're ALL celebrating!"

She then began pulling Kurogane away but he looked back at Tomoyo with a glare that said 'We'll talk later'. She was left standing there with Souma.

"Does she always get that excited?" asked Tomoyo.

"Sadly yes. Every time he wins she celebrates by blowing her winnings on drinks," said Souma.

"Wait she bets on him? Can she do that being his manager?" asked Tomoyo.

"Of course," said Souma, "fighters want to know that their managers believe in them enough to bet on them and not against. But anyone who would bet against someone undefeated like Kurogane is an idiot. It's like he can't lose."

"So I bet you take a drunk Kendappa-san home a lot," said Tomoyo, laughing.

Souma couldn't help but laugh too. "Sadly I do. Come on let's join the celebration." So they headed back toward the bar where they saw Amaterasu pouring out shots as Kurogane put on his sweatshirt and sweatpants over his shorts. "We are the best team in the world!" shouted Amaterasu taking a shot.

"Yeah," said Kurogane, taking one.

"Souma!" began Amaterasu, "Take your shot! Celebrate!"

Souma sighed and took the small cup and began taking sips from it. "Woo-hoo," she said, though not super enthused.

"Souma, you know that you drink it in one shot, right?" asked Kurogane.

"I know," said Souma, "but I don't like alcohol."

"Daidōji-san!" shouted Amaterasu, "Take a drink with us! Celebrate with the team!"

Tomoyo held up her hands and shook her head. "I really can't, Kendappa-san. I told you I'm not 20."

"Buzzkill!" shouted Amaterasu. "Fine get her a cola so she can do a shot too!"

So Amaterasu poured three more shots of alcohol and one shot of cola and handed them out. "To the Steel Dragon team!" shouted Amaterasu.

Everyone clinked their glasses and then took their shots. Amaterasu then leaned back in her chair and smiled. "I love this team!" She then looked over to Tomoyo. "And I think the team needs to grow."

"What?!" shouted Kurogane while Tomoyo just stood there surprised.

"I want Daidōj-san to join this team! She can be our camerawoman/media person. She can help us hype up how good you are and get more people betting on you! It'll be perfect! I'm sure she's already got some good footage from tonight," said Amaterasu. She then looked over at Tomoyo. "What do say?"

Tomoyo hesitated for a moment. She knew his would be her best shot at getting her movie but was being involved in this at a deeper level than just spectating a good idea? "Um, I'm not sure."

"Well, I'm sure," began Kurogane, "Sure that she can't be part of this team."

"And why is that, Kurogane?" asked Amaterasu.

"Because she wants to film all this to use in one of her movie projects. The majority of all that goes on down here is illegal and do you really want to go to jail because she spills it to everyone?" he said.

"Well if you don't trust her Kurogane why did you bring her here?" asked Amaterasu.

Kurogane stared over at Tomoyo. "I didn't know that she was going to make a movie out of all this." The way he said it sorta stung Tomoyo. "Look Amaterasu," he began again.

"I promise I'll keep everything secret," interrupted Tomoyo, "I just want to make it about Kurogane-san. I won't show who he's fighting. I'll just do training, certain fight scenes, and interviews with you all because your his team. Nothing more. And if I can do this one project then I'll stick with your team."

Amaterasu grinned and then stared at Kurogane."Fair enough, Kurogane?"

"I'm not doing any movie, no matter what deal you make with her," he said.

"If don't do it I'll quit and take Souma with me," said Amaterasu.

Kurogane glared at her and she glared right back. Finally he said, "Fine."

"Wonderful!" shouted Amaterasu. "And don't worry so much. I trust her to keep all this secret." She then turned to Tomoyo. "Don't let me down."

"Of course not, Kendappa-san!" said Tomoyo, smiling ear to ear. She was really excited about this and didn't know why. It was more than just getting this movie; maybe part of it was that she'd never be apart of something to secret and it was just a little thrilling. She looked over at Kurogane who was frowning at her. He then looked away from her and ordered another drink.

Tomoyo could tell she had upset him and she still didn't understand why. Did he really not believe that she could keep this all a secret in her movie?

"Well me and Souma are out of here," began Amaterasu as she stumbled up out of her chair. Souma was there to steady her. She then looked over at Kurogane. "See you on Saturday night for some training, all day Sunday too." Then she looked over at Tomoyo. "Come if you want some footage."

Tomoyo shook her head. "I will. Thank you, Kendappa-san."

"No problem," began Amaterasu, "Now come on Souma. I think I'm a little buzzed."

"Coming, Amaterasu," said Souma as the two of them headed out of the building.

Tomoyo then looked over at Kurogane who was leaning against the bar watching the fight that was going on. He must've felt her stare because he looked over at her, still somewhat pissed off.

He chugged his drink then sat it on the table and headed over to her. "Let's go," he said already heading toward the exit.

So they headed out the door into the cold night. "Kurogane-san when we get to the tower I can call my driver if you want."

"I'm fine," he said, coldly, "Do what you want."

"Kurogane-san are you mad at me?" she asked though she knew the answer.

He stopped and turned around to face her. The look on his face was calmer than she expected but still not friendly. "Tomoyo-san boxing is important to me but this tournament is really important to me because I need to win this jackpot and I don't want anyone ruining this by letting word get out. You don't know who in your film class will figure it out and spill."

"Ok how do you not know that one of those people there will spill?" she asked.

"Because all of them are in there doing illegal drugs, gambling, fighting, etc. and the only people they would spill too are probably already in there with them," he said. "You and your friends aren't part of this kind of world."

"Then why bring me tonight?" she asked.

"To get you to stop bothering me." he said. "I thought one time just to get you off my back with your curiosity would be enough but then you had to get this stupid movie idea and Amaterasu had to decide to let you be a part of this team."

"Kurogane-san I promised that I won't tell a soul and I'll even let you watch my movie before I take it to my club to make sure I've edited it to your liking, ok?" she said. "How does that sound Kurogane-san?"

They both stood there in silence staring each other down for a moment. Finally he took a step closer to her and got really close to her face. He was so close to her that she could smell the alcohol on his breath and as she stared into his red eyes Tomoyo couldn't help but blush. "Don't mess this up."

"I won't," she said, determined.

"I mean it Tomoyo-san. I have to win this tournament," he said.

"Why?" she asked.

He froze for a moment then back away from her. "None of your business. Now let's just head home. I'll call a taxi."

Tomoyo wanted to press him more about what the deal was with the tournament but decided that she'd pissed him off enough with the whole movie thing and just barely got him to accept it so she better not push him anymore. So they headed down the road to where some taxis were waiting and hopped in.

They sat in silence for a moment before he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so mad but I've got a pretty good shot at winning this tournament. I just can't have anything mess it up."

"I understand," she said, "I'm sorry for sort of pressing you into all this. But like you're tournaments important to you, my films are important to me."

They continued the rest of the way to his house in silence but it was a calm silence, not an angry one.

After they exited the cab and Kurogane payed the driver, they stood in his lawn for a moment.

"Well I should get going. My mother may not be home but I'm sure that my bodyguards will tell her I was out too late if I don't start getting back," began Tomoyo.

"Can you make it up that mile long driveway of yours?" he asked her.

"I think so," she said. "Good night, Kurogane-san."

"Night, Tomoyo-san," he said.

As she started off she quickly turned around and said, "Kurogane-san."

He turned back to her.

"I won't mess this up and I'll always be there to cheer you on. I know that you'll win this tournament," she said.

He looked down at his gloves in his hand. "I hope so. So...see ya tomorrow, I guess?"

She shook her head. "Sure." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Well I should go. Bye."

So she headed up the hill and Kurogane headed into his house.

All Tomoyo could think about as she headed up the hill was how interesting this one night had been and how she could only imagine what else was to come with joining this team. _I'm going to give this my all._

She then stared down at the camera in her hand and held it up to record herself as she walked. "Kurogane-san, I just want you to know that I'm going to be the best part of your team. You can count on it."


	3. The Interview

When Tomoyo woke the next morning she could still hear all the noises from the arena ringing in her head. After she had got to her house she was greeted by her bodyguards at the door asking where she'd been. She simply told them that she'd been out with Kurogane, just a nice little dinner with a neighbor, and instead of calling her driver they decided to just get a taxi together. Of course they hadn't said anything but she knew they'd probably called her mother, though her mother was probably too busy to want to deal with it. Tomoyo had been so tired that she just crashed onto her bed and fell asleep.

Her whole body smelled like smoke and she had a splitting headache, probably because she'd only gotten a couple hours of sleep. She knew she needed to quickly shower and wash her hair before heading to school. She didn't want any rumors spread about her taking up smoking or anything.

So after a quick shower and a super quick brush through her wet hair, she headed downstairs, grabbed a piece of toast, and headed to her car where her driver was waiting. As the car was going down the road she noticed Kurogane standing outside his shop talking to a customer. He looked up and gave her a wave as the car pasted by. She returned it, smiling. She was glad that Kurogane couldn't stay mad at her.

As they drove to school her mind couldn't stop going back to that night. It seemed like it all happened so quickly, her going to the fight, finding her movie idea, and becoming a part of the team. But Tomoyo was kind of glad that it did. She was excited about being a part of this and she had to admit it was nice to hang out with Kurogane some. Tomoyo had always wondered some about Kurogane; there were many things she didn't know about him she had realized that night and she was going to use this chance to find out more about her neighbor, starting with why winning this tournament means so much to him. He kept bringing up the whole night how much he had to win this and how Tomoyo better not do anything to have this tournament shut down before he did.

Maybe he needed the money for his business or maybe he needed it to pay off loan sharks or maybe-

"Good morning, Tomoyo-chan," said a male voice that quickly took Tomoyo away from her thoughts.

Tomoyo noticed that they had arrived at the school and her driver had opened her door and standing in front of her was a young blonde haired man. It was her good friend Nokoru Imonoyama.

"Hello Nokoru-kun," she said as he took her hand and helped her out of the car.

He leaned over and kissed the top of her hand. "You look beautiful as ever this morning, Tomoyo-chan."

"Thanks," she said with a smile. Nokoru was always flirting with all the girls, including Tomoyo even though they knew they were both just friends.

They started walking off to their classroom together. "So how are you on this fine Friday, Tomoyo-chan?"

"I'm good," she said.

"That's good," he began, "How is your film project going?"

Tomoyo was surprised he knew about that considering she hadn't seen him after school yesterday.

He noticed her surprise. "I saw Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun yesterday as I was leaving and we chatted for a bit. They mentioned you were having some problems with a film project."

"Oh yeah," said Tomoyo, "I was having some trouble but I figured out what to do."

"May I ask what it's about?" he said.

Tomoyo paused a moment, carefully choosing her words. "Well it's going to be about my neighbor, Kurogane Youou. He does some boxing and stuff so I thought it'd be interesting to do like a documentary on him. He got the nickname 'The Steel Dragon' and I had to use the word 'steel' in the title so it just kind of worked out."

"Hmmm," began Nokoru, thinking, "Are you talking about the man who lives at the end of your drive? The big guy with the auto repair shop?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "That's him. Why?"

Nokoru shrugged. "Nothing. I was just trying to think of who that was. Boxing seems like a fitting activity for him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Tomoyo, not to pleased with his tone of voice.

"Nothing," he began, "I'm just saying he looks like a boxer. I assume he's doing all this boxing legally, right? Following all the JBC rules in a legal gym?"

Tomoyo froze for a minute. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, there is a lot of underground activity in boxing. Drugs, gambling, prostitution, etc. and all of it happening at these illegal fights. My father is a detective in Tokyo whose working with some others to break up these activities but they can't ever get to them, don't know who's running them, and if they find someone they think might know something about it all they aren't actually catching them in the middle of something illegal so they can't just take them in. It's a mess but I think my father and them might be onto some new things."

"Really?" said Tomoyo as they walked into their classroom. They sat down beside each other and Nokoru continued talking.

"You know Tomoyo-chan if you ever end up in the gym with him you should listen around to see if anyone's talking about any of those events. If you hear something maybe you could call me. Would you be willing to do that?"

Tomoyo just shrugged. "I don't know that they'd really talk about any of it with me around though."

"Well maybe not but maybe you'll get lucky and catch something," said Nokoru, "Or maybe your neighbor will hear something and might tell you and you can tell me. Your neighbor's name was Kurogane...Youou, correct?"

"Yes. Why?" asked Tomoyo but before Nokoru could answer their teacher, Fai-sensei, walked in.

"Good morning, class!" he said.

"Good morning, sensei!" they replied.

"Shall we get started with a riveting lesson on Shōnagon's _The Pillow Book_?" he asked and class began.

**XXXXXXXX**

When lunch came around, her, Sakura, Syaoran, and Nokoru all joined each other around Sakura's desk.

"So Tomoyo-chan, Nokoru-kun was telling us that you finally got the idea for your project. He was telling us it was something about your neighbor, Youou-san," said Syaoran.

"Oh yeah," said Tomoyo. "It's just about his boxing."

"I thought he just ran that auto repair shop," said Sakura.

Syaoran shook his head. "No, I knew he did some sport. He's got a lot of trophies in his office at the shop. I saw them when my dad went to pay for a tune-up."

"Well he does look like an athletic man. Maybe that's why Tomoyo likes him," giggled Sakura.

"Sakura-chan!" shouted Tomoyo. "I don't like him. I don't like Kurogane-san as anything more than a friend."

"Come on, Tomoyo-chan, they're nothing wrong with liking him. Maybe Youou-san likes you too!"

Tomoyo though about how mad he'd gotten at her yesterday. "I highly doubt that."

"Well maybe he's just being shy about it," said Sakura.

"Youou-san isn't someone who I call 'shy'," began Syaoran, "he's usually just angry.

"Perhaps that's why he partakes in such a brutish sport," commented Nokoru.

Tomoyo looked over at him and frowned. Why did he have to keep talking about Kurogane like he was some thug or something?

Before she could ask the lunch bell rang and everyone returned to their seats, ready for the next class to begin.

**XXXXXXXX**

After helping clean the classroom, and with her Film Club meeting cancelled that day, Tomoyo went looking for Nokoru, wanting to ask him more about what his deal was, but she couldn't find him. So she simply got in her car and headed on home.

When they passed by Kurogane's house, Tomoyo looked to see if he was outside but noticed an expensive black car parked in his yard. It looked like something that wouldn't be taken to any little, one-man garage. She wondered why it was there. Maybe she'd ask him later, though she knew she probably wouldn't get a response. Kurogane was very private.

_Maybe I'll go down for a visit later. Maybe I can get an interview done. I'll just go get my camera._

So when Tomoyo arrived at the Daidōji mansion, she quickly ran in to grab her camera from upstairs. Just as she burst through the door though a voice sopped her in her tracks. "Hello, Tomoyo."

Tomoyo turned around and there stood her mother, Sonomi Daidōji. Tomoyo was surprised to see her mother. Normally they would see each other maybe once a week at dinner or passing through the house. Her mother was usually so busy at the company she sometimes slept there. "Mother? Why are you here?"

"Not even a 'hello' from my daughter?" asked Sonomi, though she was proud that her daughter could be all business.

"Sorry, Mother," began Tomoyo.

"It's ok," began Sonomi, "Anyway I'm here because the guards and your driver were telling me somethings about yesterday. Something about you coming home late after being with the boy from down the street. Youou-san is it?"

"Yeah but-" began Tomoyo.

"Tomoyo, let me stop you. I'm not mad but I am your mother and I do worry about you sometimes so I am going to give you a warning. You better not mess everything up over him. You have a bright future, Tomoyo. You already own Piffle Princess! I don't want him to lead you into anything that could hurt that," said her mother.

"Why do you assume Kurogane-san will drag me into something that could somehow ruin my life? I'm just making a movie about him for my film club," said Tomoyo.

"And that's fine but you need to be careful. Youou-san is a man who's...rough around the edges I guess. He's an older guy and he probably could get pretty...persuasive into making you do things you shouldn't," said Sonomi.

"Just what exactly do you think he'd do?" asked Tomoyo.

"Well I've hear that he can drink a lot and he might get you into alcohol," began Sonomi, "Not to mention that he's a young man in his mid-twenties and you're a pretty young girl and he might start coming onto you..."

"Mother! You've met Kurogane-san before. Do you really think he'd do anything like that?"

"Well no, but Tomoyo you don't know everything about him. Sometimes people can appear one way and truly be another," said Sonomi.

Tomoyo thought for a moment about how Kurogane wouldn't tell her why he needed to win the tournament and then she thought back to that car in his yard. But those were just things he wanted to keep private because they didn't concern anyone else. It didn't mean he had some secret evil side or something.

Tomoyo sighed. She was tired of this conversation. Luckily her mother was getting a business call. "Honey, I'm getting a call. We can talk more about this later."

"Sure," said Tomoyo as she headed up to her room to get her camera. When she headed back down her mother was still on the phone. "Mother, I'm heading out to Kurogane-san."

"Ok, ok," said her mother, waving at her, not really listening.

"I just want you to know that we're running away together," she said at the door.

"That's nice, honey," said Sonomi.

Tomoyo sighed as she headed down the road. She loved her mother and knew her mother cared about her but sometimes she felt her mother wasn't involved enough to really be telling her anything about what she was doing. If she didn't get constant updates from the bodyguards and drivers then her mother would barely know what was happening with her. That's why she felt that her mother didn't really have any right telling her what she should be doing when it came to Kurogane.

About that time Tomoyo was arriving at Kurogane's house and noticed three men in suits coming out of his garage heading to the black car from earlier. Two of them looked like bodyguards for he thin, black haired one who was clearly the leader. He was smoking a cigarette as he walked and when he opened the car door he noticed Tomoyo. He gave her a grin and a small wave, flicking his cigarette away in the same motion. Then he got in the car and away it went.

Tomoyo watched it drive away for a moment, wondering who they were. For a moment she wondered if Kurogane was mixed up in something other than just the fighting but shook the thought away. _Now I'm thinking like Mother._

So she headed into Kurogane's garage. He was leaning down under the hood and didn't seem to notice she came in. "Hello, Kurogane-san," she said.

He jumped up so quick that he banged his head on the hood. "Fuck!" he shouted. He turned to her, glaring. "What are you doing here?"

Tomoyo held up her camera, a little nervous at how mad he sounded. "I-I was bored and I thought that I'd come get an interview."

Kurogane could see he had scared a bit and sighed, rubbing his neck. "I'm sorry for getting mad. But, geez, you walk silent, Tomoyo-san. Give me a better warning next time that you're coming so I don't have my head under the hood."

Tomoyo couldn't help but giggle some. She was surprised that she sneaked up on him. Normally he was super alert. "It was kinda funny though I hope your heads ok."

He sighed as he grabbed an oil rag and began wiping his hands. "I've been hit worse."

"Care to tell about it?" asked Tomoyo, shaking her camera in her hand.

"You realize I have a job, don't you? That I'm not just available 24/7 for you to just show up and bother for your little movie?" he asked.

"I know," began Tomoyo, "but I didn't think you were busy now that those guys left and-"

"Wait," said Kurogane, "you were here when those guys were leaving?"

"Well, I was just coming down the drive but-"

"Did they bother you at all?" he asked, concerned.

She shook her head. "No. The man who was smoking waved at me but I wouldn't call that 'bothering' me. Why? What's the problem?"

"...Nothing," said Kurogane. "Look, Tomoyo-san, I've got one more tune-up to finish and while I wait for the guy to come get it I'll do your interview. How about you go sit in my office for now?"

"Ok," she said. So she followed him as he led her to his office.

"You can sit in my chair if you want," he said as he turned to go back into the garage.

Tomoyo stood here for a moment and looked around the tiny room. There was a large desk with papers thrown all over it, a large leather rolling chair behind it, another leather chair in front of it, and a row of filing cabinets, and a bar area, lined the walls. On top of the cabinets were tons of trophies and some pictures.

Tomoyo walked over and began looking at the trophies. Most were grand prize ones, though some earlier ones were second place ones, and all were for boxing. Then she noticed some that weren't boxing. They were kendo tournament trophies and all of them were awarded to a Ginryu Youou. Tomoyo picked one up to look at.

"Those were my dad's," said Kurogane from behind her.

She jumped and quickly turned around to face him. He took the trophy from her hand and stared at it. "He was really good at kendo. He wanted me to take it up."

"Why didn't you?" she asked.

He set the trophy back up and sighed. "I needed to get into something where I could make some extra money. Besides it would only be a reminder he was gone."

A sad silence came over the room. Tomoyo knew Kurogane didn't like to talk about his parents much. All Tomoyo knew about them was that they had passed away and that's when Kurogane bought the garage and moved away from where he had lived before.

Finally Kurogane broke it. "Alright so I'm just waiting for my customer. Want to get on with that interview?"

"Sure," she said as she took a seat in the leather chair while he went over to his bar area, poured a drink, and then took a seat in his rolling chair.

She stared at his drink. "Are you an alcoholic?"

"Is this part of the interview?" he asked.

"No," she said, "I just notice that you have a little bar area in your auto-shop office and you drank a lot after the fight."

"And this makes me an alcoholic?" he asked.

"Well most people don't set up little bars at their workplace," she said.

"I bet they wish they could," he said, taking a sip. "Anyway to answer your question I might drink a lot but I can still keep my head. I'm not depressed or dependent on it or anything. Now get to some of the real questions."

"Alright," said Tomoyo as she set her set up her camera on the table and began asking some of the questions running in her head. "Why did you get into boxing?"

He shook his head. "Can't use his question."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because my reason deals with the illegal side," he said.

"Alright," she began, "but I still want to hear it."

He shrugged. "It's like I said earlier. I needed to make some extra money to get by and I heard about how these underground fighters made a lot in tournaments and on bets placed on them. So I thought I was tough enough to do it and that's how I got into it."

"How did you meet Kendappa-san and Kaida-san?" she asked.

"I met them at a fight. It was a night of a mixed tournament. The way it worked was that there was a men's bracket and a women's bracket and in the end the top man and the top woman would go head to head. Long story short it was me and Souma in the end. I was still pretty new to all this and I needed to win this, even if it meant beating her unconscious. Souma actually told me when we got up there that she was glad she was going against me because she knew I wouldn't go easy on her. And she certainly didn't go easy on me. She socked me so hard in the face my eye swelled shut but I ended up winning when I faked her out and got her to swing at me and I got her in the gut. When I got her down she just about was going to make me beat her unconscious until Amaterasu begged her to just stop and she did. While we were getting checked up on after the fight together Amaterasu comes up to me and starts asking me if I had a manager. I tell her no and she offers to become mine, tells me she can't wait to have the top female and male boxers down there. I ask her why do I even need one and she makes me a deal. Tells me that she will give me one half of whatever she wins from betting on me. Says she'll try to get others to bet on me and that she can have Souma and me train together. So I took her up on it and here we are now, six years later."

"Ok, so how did you get the nickname the Steel Dragon?" she asked.

"Well it was actually really simple. Amaterasu was the one who started calling me it and got others to. She said it worked because my name means Black Steel and my symbol, I guess you'd call it, was a dragon. Plus she said that it really helped to describe my strength or something like that that sounded good."

"What do you do when you win tournaments like this?" she asked.

"…I save the winnings," he said.

"For something special?" she asked.

"For something that doesn't concern you," he said, taking another sip.

"You really can't tell me anything about it?" she asked. "Cause you know I'll just keep asking."

"Well though I might have been broken by your stubbornness yesterday I know now to watch out for it. So this time if you keep pestering me about things I'll just kick ya out," he said.

She gave him a pout and he just grinned over his glass. "Don't think that will work either."

She sighed. "Alright, fine, I know when to give up. So why do you want to win this specific tournament so bad?"

He paused with his drink almost to his mouth. "Why won't you ask anything that you can actually use for this movie?"

"Sorry," she began, "but I really want to know."

"Didn't I tell you yesterday it was personal?" he said.

"But-" she began but he cut her off.

"Don't or like I said, I'll kick ya out," he said sternly. "Now start asking some questions you can use."

She sighed. "Alright let's go back to why you got into boxing. Just tell me some story I can use for the film."

He sighed. "Now I have to be a real actor?"

She shook her head. "Yes. Now go."

So for the next little bit Tomoyo conducted her interview. Some questions Kurogane had to lie on but some were simple like how many times did he think he'd won, what did it feel like to win, etc.

By the end of it, the sun was starting to set. Tomoyo smiled as she turned off her camera. She had gotten a pretty good start on what she needed though she was a little upset she couldn't have gotten more out of Kurogane about his personal stuff.

"Get what you wanted?" asked Kurogane, getting up.

"Pretty much," she said, heading to the door.

They stood together in the doorway for a moment. "Thanks for letting me interview you. Sorry if it was a bother," she said.

"It wasn't too bad, I guess. Besides," he began, "it was nice having you around for a bit. Don't think that means you can just show up again next time though."

She smiled at him. "I'll try not to. How about we exchange numbers and I can call you?"

"Ok," he said. Then he went back in his office and returned with one of his cards. "My cell number's on it."

She took it and then pulled a pen and a Piffle Princess business card out of her blazer pocket. On the back she wrote her cell phone number and handed it to him. He looked at it and then slipped it in his pants pocket. About that same time a man walked into the garage.

"Well I've got a guy here to get his car. But I guess I'll be seeing you at my training session on Sunday if not before then?" he said.

"Of course!" she said, happily, holding up her camera. "You can't escape me yet."

He chuckled and ruffled her hair as he walked passed her into the garage. "See ya."

She touched her head and smiled. "See ya later, Kurogane-san."


End file.
